8.24.2012

The Desert

The facts of silence and emptiness are traditionally the
symbols of divine imminence—but not, of course, for everyone, and not in all
circumstances. “Until one has crossed a barren desert, without food or water,
under a burning tropical sun, at three miles per hour, one can form no
conception of what misery is.” These are the words of a gold-seeker, who took
the Southern route to California in 1849. Even when one is crossing it at
seventy miles an hour on a four-lane highway, the desert can seem formidable
enough....the desert’s emptiness and the desert’s silence reveal what we may
call their spiritual meanings only to those who enjoy some measure of
physiological security…

But even for those who enjoy security against the assaults
of the environment, the desert does not always or inevitably reveal its
spiritual meanings….Be still, and know
that I am God; be still and know that you
are the delinquent imbecile who snarls and gibbers in the basement of every
human mind. The desert can drive men mad, but it can also help them to become
supremely sane.

The enormous draughts of emptiness and silence prescribed by
the eremites are safe medicine only for a few exceptional souls. By the
majority the desert should be taken either dilute or, if at full strength, in
small doses. Used in this way, it acts as a spiritual restorative, as an
anti-hallucinant, as a de-tensioner and alternative.